Improvement in bolting flour



- rrr @arca JOHN H. BURK `AND THOMAS TRUSSELL, OF NEW MARKET, VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOLTING FLOUR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,082, dated January 30, 1872.

SPECIFICATION.

We, JOHN H. BURK and THOMAS W. TRUS- SELL, ot' New Market, in the countyof Shenandoah and State of Virginia, have jointly' invented and made certain new and useiul lmprovements in the manner or mode ot' Bolting or Retining Flour, ot' which the following is a specifica-tion.

Our improvements rela-tc to the manner of sifting. or bolting the meal ot' wheat grain, so as to avoid sharp or close grinding, excessive comininutioii, and undue bolting, by not returning the once-bolted mass back into the cooling-room, to be mingled or remixed with unbolted meal and otlal, nor to be mixed again with reground otlal, but preserving intact the rst-bolted product divested ot' all undue attrition, whereby all injurious frictional heating or scorching of the relined mass of lour is prevented. The mechanical devices employed in our mode, though not new in themselves, are limited in number, and arranged and used dil'eren tl y,somewhat, from other arran gements whereby the result sought ensues.

The nature of and the object connected with our improvements consist, li'rst, in direct bolting or refining the meal of ground or reduced wheat, rye, or other glutinous as well as farinaceous grain, so as to produce a most superior grade or quality of flour-product, containing a much larger per centage of gluten in a given amount or quantity, and possessing a much more nutritious principle, than is possessed by flour made by other modes or processes.. Secondly, and furthermore, our improvements enable the manufacturer of flour to produce from one to two more additional barrels of firstgradel flour from one hundred bushels ot' grain, whilst, at the same time, this improved quality and increased quantity can be manufactured in much less time than by any other system now known of producing flour, thus greatly reducing labor and time, in a measure preventing wear ot' machinery, and facilitating the making ot' iiour for market; all ot' which are m aterial considerations to the manufacturer, dealer, and consumer. The several advantages of our improvements over all other modes known to us will be more fully set-forth and explained hereinafter.

'lhe accompanying diagram, Figure 1, is a geometrical perspective view; and Fig. 2 is an end elevation, 'with the interior parts of mechanism (dotted in) of our arrangement of boltin g apparatus. ln order more fully to show the difference between our improvements and other methods ot' making iiour, we deem it necessary iirst to describe. as nearly as possiblethe usual or ordinary inode ot' making' iiour, which consists, first, ot' conveying, iii the wellknown manner, the ground uniss of meal direct irom the grinding-biu'rs to bins or boxes into a cooling-room, which is generally located above the grinding and boltin g apparatus, and, after being cooled as required, the ground meal is conveyed by conveyors and elevatorstoaseries of four or more bolting-reels or relining-cloths, each reel and cloth being from ten to twelve feet, more or less, in length, arranged laterally and parallel to each other, and at a slight inclination from end to end. Revolving spiral con veyers, horizontallyarranged and vertically -movin g endless bandelevators, are also used. As liereinbet'ore sta-ted, the cooled mass of meal is conveyed from the cooling-room by the well-known devices, andis deposited wit-hin the boltiiig-reels, which are generally covered throughout their whole length with one and the same grade ot' coarse or line boltingcloth, as may be required, and as is the case in most ofthe ordinary modes of boltine'. The meal sifts through the cloth, the iiner particles falling beneath the reel into proper receptacles, and the coarser particles issuing through and `from the open end ofthe reel into other receptacles. In the ordinary inode of bolting the reiined particles of liour that are deposited from the head part of the holtiii greel, and which ilour is intended for packing, is delivered through down-spout-s or outlets, indicated at E F, and the flour or residue in the reel, bein cut oi' at the proper time from the upper conveyers, C l), passes out ofthe upper boxes, G H, Fig. l, dots Fig. 2, the said boxes being provided underneath with suitable outlets, (not shown in diagraim) through which the tlour falls into the lower boxes,1 K, which are provided with spiral conveyers, L M, Fig. 2, indicated by dots. The portion of iiour falling through about two-thirds the length of the lower conveyers L M, being nearly thoroughly bolted, is then conveyed back again to the cooling-room, there mixed or int( rmingled with the unbolted mass, when more or less of the said mixed mass is conveyed along down into and through the bolting-reels A B, and

2 .laatse there rebolted. Thus in the ordinary modes a great portion of the four is constantly being returned to the coolingroom, remixed and rebolted over and over, thereby impoverishing the flour and extracting' the glutinous, nutritious principle.

We are aware that a patent for an alleged improved mode of bolting flour was granted to Benjamin D. Sanders, August 24, 1858, and to show a dissimilarity between said patented mode and ours we will endeavor to explain the difference. In the Sanders specilication it is clearly recited that his process or mode requires the use of several bolting-reels, and that he rebolts the ground mass several times, whereby he alleges that he deprives superfne flonr of fine offal, or specky77 impurities, and on this said mode is based his first claim. The applicant in his second claim recites that he restores again to the supertine flour that matter which he alleges in his first claim he deprives said supertine flour of. It seemsthat'the Sanders process is confined to a superfine grade of fiour, and in said processv or mode the tailings are returned and rebolted with the flour already once bolted. In our mode, the whole mass of fiour from first reel Bis conveyed to second reel A without any return meal or fiour. In the Sanders mode, a part ofthe bolted meal from his first reel is conveyed to his second reel, while another portion ofthe once-bolted mass is returned back to the same first reel, there again intermingled with additional offal and meal coming from the grinding-burrs through the cooling-room. We employ no such mode, as will be more fully hereinafter shown. By Vthe Sanders mode Ya part only of the product from the second reel is considered as finished fiour, suitable for packing or barreling. Furthermore, a part, also, of his second reel is returned for a rebolting', together with that conveyed from his first reel. Thus it appears that two or more different grades or qualities are in fact 1n ade from the several different reels he employs-one grade of better quality than the other, but both of' which must necessarily be overbolted and thereby deprived of too much gluten, and, consequently, the fiour is greatly impoverished and injured in its nutritious property. In the Sanders process it will be perceived that the very coarse meal which passes over the tail of his second reel is conveyed to the third reel, and thef'lour that sifts through the said third reel is returned to his second reel and there intermingled with the other fiour, thereby subjecting the whole mass to minute off-al specks because of the repeated return four from three or more several reels.

The foregoing described processes or modes are what millers ordinari] y term bolting and rebolt-ing with oft'al. In ordinary milling, four several grades or different qualities of wheat flour are manufactured, and designated, in order, as first, family; second, extra; third, tine; and fourth, supertine. Of family orbest-grade flour from fifteen to eighteen barrels are proels of grain.

duced from the grinding of one hundred bush- The residue product from the said amount of grain, being the first or richest offal or middlin gs running off from the tails of reels, is generally reground, when from two to three barrels of extra flour are produced. Thevk middlings resulting from this second grinding and second bolting' are again reground, when from one to two barrels of super-fine are produced. Lastly, a final regrinding of all accumulated bolted and rebolted middlin gs or offal produces about one barrel of very low grade of thin, dead, and insipid flour. By our mode or method of boltin g we make but two grades of fiour, first and second qualities-i. e., family, and extra -thereby producing about twenty-one barrels of family-the highest and best-and two barrels of superior extra, the next best grade offlour, from the grinding of one hundred bushels of grain. When we grind wheat for extra flour we make no other grade thereof.

OuLmeclanical arrangement of devices consists in employing but two reels, making our reels sixteen feetin length, thus aftbrdi n g greater bolting surface. lVe cover the upper Vor head half of the length of each reel with a coarse-grade cloth, number ll, the fine-grade cloth, number l2, covering' the tail-end half of the reels. Fine and coarse `grades of boltingcloth are connnonly used, but` we believe, not in the precise manner as used by us.

It is deemed expedient to make the foregoing explanations and review other modes or methods of bolting and refining flour, so that the difference between them and ours may be more clearly shown and more readily understood.

The object generally sought after, it appears, in the many modes of manufacturing flour is principally to reduce the gra-in to the very finest condition or the most impalpable mass, losing sight entirely of the nutritious property, and destroying almost entirely the glutinous principle, both of which are the life and substance of the grain. This destructive process we effectually avoid, and it is one of the improved features of our mode of bolting flour. Y

The operation of our mode is as follows, viz.: The meal from the cooling room is first conveyed to reel B; there bolted; the bolted product being conveyed thence, by the spout R, the ordinary spouts, E F N, bein g closed by a slide or shut-off, S, as shown in Fig. l. rlhe flour once bolted through reel B passes down to the pulley-wheel conveyer O; thence is carried upward by the endless-band elevator (P, Fig. l; dots, Fig. 2;) a-nd next emptied into the end-delivery spout Q above; thence falling into the second bolting-reel A, where the fiour is again bolted, but without being first returned to the cooling room, and without being mixed or intermingled with the unbolted mass, as is done in the ordinary manner of bolting flour. The productthus bolted without any return we use and pack a-s finished family flour. rllhe tailings resulting from the two reels B A we return to the grinding-buns for a second grinding', the bolting ot' which produces the secon d-best grade of extra. Thus by avoiding repeated boltings the usual shortening or lesseniug ot'quan ti t-y of best grades is a-lsothereby prevented, and thus we are enabled to produce a greater quant-ity of the best and next grades of familyj7 and extra flour from a improved results ot' our mode ot' manufacture is a pure, unmixed, rich flour, of a most uniformly-high grade, while the offa-l of shorts and bran resulting from our mode of bolting is of a much superior grade in point of quality and quant-ity than is usually produced in` milling.

Having' shown the mechanical appliances used in bolting,` iiour, and described in detail the dierence between the ordinary modes and our improved inode of inanut'acturin g flour, what we claim as new, and desire to have secured by Letters Patent, is as follows, viz.:

1. le do not claim as new any ofthe devices ormechanical part-s separately or apart.; but we do claim the combination of the reels A B, conveyers G D L M with the central connecting-spouts E F N, the lateral spout R and shut-oft' S, conveyer O, elevator P, and the end-delivery spout Q, when arranged as described, to operate substantially in the mauner and for the purpose set forth.

2. XVe also claim the herein-described mode ot' producing' differentgrades of Hour, substantially as set forth.

J. H. BURK. L. s] T. W. TRUSSELL. iL. 5.]

Witnesses:

D. F. KAGEY, A. K. GINN. 

